Sunday, November 30, 2008

book Sunday reading



so few times lately i feel proud of myself
i do work every day
and i do what a 'regular' sort of responsible
citizen is expected to do
but since i don't exercise anymore,
those little feelings of accomplishments
and self-fulfillment that come with running an extra-block
or swimming an extra lap, haven't been around
i don't really go out of my way to do much these days

but today
but i was able to finish Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential
'right on time!'

as i posted before
i was being lazy even with books!
so i pushed a little and today
last day of November i was able to finish on time the book

it took some effort to concentrate to confess
and with this tendency i have to sabotage myself
i had to be extra careful, i left the house so i didn't have
many distractions, i buried myself in a Starbucks
and ordered a black coffee, sat & read & read & read



of course, i got distracted many many many times
by the colorful walls and the squarish semi-art



my mind tricked me into counting the birds on top of
this coffee drinker seated outside



later it made me focus on the lady-in-black
crossing the street



even the backs of chairs were
appealing... and every time, i'd be too distracted
i'd take a photo and go back to read... it worked!
lots of bad rushed photos, lots of pages read
a cheap way of entertaining yourself



and even thought, by the time i left Starbucks
i wasn't done with the book, i made a huge advance there

i came home, made an extra mug of cherry green tea
and devoured the Afterword
i have the 'updated edition'
so like in a trance, i read all the extra materials
'A Conversation with Anthony Bourdain',
an article by Bourdain on New York dinning recommendations
and others

i read the whole thing!!
and just to make sure, i wasn't being a flake, as i usually am
i read the colophon, the printing credits
the back cover and even the back of the book a couple of times

it was so cool update it at Goodreads.com
from the currently-reading to read shelf...

ah!! nothing like the sense of accomplishment
after doing something just for the pleasure of doing it
and for yourself, no work to complete, no social engagement
just following your own rules
nice when it works!

now to keep in one-per- month book state
until i am back on good-reading-shape
and comes to me automatically, spontaneously
as it once did

even with the fun things in life
sometimes one has to shake laziness
and discipline yourself to have fun out there

yeah yeah yeah
read a little book you too, today
or listen to a whole album, start to finish
or a cool article...
ah anyway another week comes ahead...

4 comments:

Georg said...

Berenice,

This post looks a bit as if you tried to make a kind of poem and then were to lazy to find the rhymes.

Next time, mebbe.

Georg

bereweber said...

Nein Nein dear Georg
i wasn't going for the rhyme at all!
if it rhymed on the start was a happy coincidence... aber ja, hoffentlich nächstest Mal schreibe ich 'in rhyme'

:D

Unknown said...

Hi, Bere, congrats on finishing the book. I haven't finished Umberto Eco book. I am behind schedule... I like the picture on the title. Did you take it?

bereweber said...

hola dear Lisa

and how are you liking that Eco book? hope you are having fun reading it, i think books are to enjoy! not to put more pressure on oneself, this was an extreme case with me, i had to put myself to work, you know me well dear Lisa, and i can rather lazy sometimes (most of the time ;))

and on the photo of the titles, YES!! it's a tree and some grass from the parking lot outside my office, glad you liked it ;) it's rotated 90 degrees, like i feel my head is rotated sometimes!